Attention A T users. To access the menus on this page please perform the following steps.
1. Please switch auto forms mode to off.
2. Hit enter to expand a main menu option (Health, Benefits, etc).
3. To enter and activate the submenu links, hit the down arrow.
You will now be able to tab or arrow up or down through the submenu options to access/activate the submenu links.

VA Psychiatrist Named One of America's Top Doctors For 5th Time

July 1, 2010

Thomas R. Kosten, M.D., Named One of America's Top Doctors For 5th Time. PHOTO: Bobbi Gruner

HOUSTON – Thomas R. Kosten, M.D., senior advisor on Substance Abuse based in the Mental Health Care Line at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center, was recently named one of America's Top Doctors® for the fifth time by Castle Connolly Medical Ltd.

“I am very pleased with this recognition of one of our physicians by Castle Connolly Medical Ltd.,” said J. Kalavar, M.D., MEDVAMC chief of staff. “Only a small percentage of physicians have earned the prestigious recognition of America's Top Doctor at all. Many, many fewer have earned it five years in a row.”

Kosten is also the Jay H. Waggoner professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences in the Menninger Department of Psychiatry at Baylor College of Medicine and research director of the Veteran Affairs National Substance Use Disorders Quality Enhancement Research Initiative. He has several major awards for clinical research, is editor of two major Journals in substance abuse, and has been on the American Journal of Psychiatry Editorial Board. Recently, he served on the National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine Committee on vaccines for substance abuse. Kosten’s work in the field of addiction has resulted in a series of ground-breaking vaccines and technologies.

Castle Connolly's Top Doctors™ selection process begins with surveys of physicians and health care professionals. Each year, Castle Connolly surveys thousands of physicians and other health care professionals and asks them to identify excellent doctors in every specialty in their region and throughout the nation. When the company began the research for the first edition of America's Top Doctors®, it surveyed more than 230,000 of the nation's leading medical specialists, department chairs, residency program directors, vice presidents of medical affairs, and presidents of the nation's leading medical centers and specialty hospitals.

The Castle Connolly physician-led research team carefully reviews the credentials of every physician being considered for inclusion in Castle Connolly Guides®, magazine articles, and Web site. The review includes, among other factors, scrutiny of medical education, training, hospital appointments, administrative posts, professional achievements, and malpractice and disciplinary history.